Floating bearing.



L. S. BACHE.

FLOATING BEARING.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.17, 1914.

Patented Mar. 23, 1915.

Fig; 1-

Fig; 3

l/Vl/ENTOR WITNESSES A TTOR/VEY I citizen of the United To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEIGH S. BACHE, a States, and a resident of Boundbrook, in the county of Somerset and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Floating Bearings, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description, whereby any one skilled in the art may make and-use the same.

The. invention relates to bearings and more particularly to the type of bearing known as a floating bearing.

Floating bearings are common in mechanics and are used either in connection with an internal and external rotary member or li lth one stationary and one rotary member.

-h quick variations in speed and light and. heavy duty, between the shaft and bearing member encircling shaft or other rotary device mounted on the shaft and in a-station f ary bearing member.

The inventionherein defined relates to a form of-bearing which may be termed selflubricating. v

The object of the invention is to provide a hearing which will be of simple form and yet will run smoothly and without undue riction owing toself-lubricating qualities of its interior and exterior surfaces.

A further object is to provide a self-lubricating bearing in which the bearing shell may be made extremely thin and yetretain the lubricant .in its surfacedepressions and may be formed with suflicient strength to withstand ordinary usage to which such a bearing is subjected. Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a sectional view through the exterior bearing box illustrating the floating bearing in place upon a shaft. Fig. 2 is an end View of thebearing. Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view through the bearing. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of. a bearinglubricated only as-to its exterior. Fig. 5 illustrates an example of a floating bearing of the universal joint. type. Fig. 6 is an end view of the bearing illustrated in Fig. 5. y Floating bearings, of necessity, must often be made from comparatively thin material in order to make them available within the limits of proper machine design. Where such bearings have been; commonly employed, they have ordinarily consisted ofa ey serve to relieve the strains incident to.

Interior and exterior LEIGH S. IBAC'JEHJ,v OF BOUNDBROOK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE GRAPHITE LUBEICATING COMPANY, OF BOUNDBROOK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

FLOATING BEARING.

tubular or sleeve-like form having perforations passing therethrough and with grooves running from the various perforations so that the liquid lubricant, being fedto the shaft within the sleeve, will be carried along the grooves and through the. perforations to the exterior of the floating bearing. It has also been a practice to provide perforations through a shell-like or tubular bearing and fill said perforations with a semi-plastic lubricant which will form a suitable lubricating film upon both the'member's rotating within and outside of the sleeve. Such devices have certain disadvantages. forated type soon becomes clogged and in fact, acts as a retainer to and grease which soon causesthe bearing to heat and freeze. In the inserted I lubricant is. often carried free of the shelland. the bearing becomes fouled. There is a The per- Patented Mar. 23, 1915. Application filed March 17, 1914. Serial No. 825,356.

P "t p the Y further disadvantage in the plug 'type in that the shell is very much weakened bytheperforations. In order numberand form to secure proper lubricatlon of the surfaces, the perferatlons the comparatively fected and yet ample lubrication will be provided for all metal parts.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 -to 3, a comparatively thin shell 1 is provided 'interiorly, With spiral grooves 2 and has in its exterior surface longitudinally extending grooves 3- The interior grooves 2 may be of any desired form and arrangement and may have any required pitch. These grooves are filled with a lubricating compound preferably graphite and the arrangement is such thatthe lubricant will be carried across all of the metal surfaces when the bearing is in use. This will between the floating hearing or shell land the shaft 4. The longitudinal grooves 37 may be arranged in any desired number in 1 05 the outer surface of the shell but do not exj provide ample lubrication tend to the ends of the shell so that none of v arranged in these longitudinal grooves is suflijcient'to furnish a film of lubricant over the entire exterior surface of the shell 1 and is ample to lubricate the interior surface of provide a maximum amount of lubrication between these parts. This is readily effected by utilizing the spiral or helical grooves 2 which extend practically from end to end of 15 i were similarly grooved, it would be greatly the bearing. If the exterior of the bearing weakened as of course floating bearings in use are subjected to considerable torsional strain. Ordinarily, the shaft member is one which rotates rapidly and as 1t 18 brought up to speed .or dropped from high speed to low,

there will be unusual strains transmitted to the bearing box unless a floating hearing such as a shell 1 were interposed between the parts. The longitudinal grooves 3 are quite sufiicient to provide the necessary lubrication for the exterior surface of the shell 1nasmuch as they are arranged in sufficlent number to provide for the wiping of the lubricant or graphite from the grooves across the intervening metallic surfaces. Their longitudinal arrangement thus gives a complete lubricating effect for the whole surface and yet the intervening metallic portions are of suflicient capacity to with stand the weights and strains. in forming these bearings; the shells are cast with the interior grooves formed therein and the longitudinal grooves upon the exterior are subsequently milled out. This insures a solid metal shell of the greatest strength. Should the outer grooves be cast, it is obvious that, in thinsleeves, blow holes would appear between the interior and exterior grooves. When formed as above described, there is always a solid body of metal extending from end to end of the bearing between .the interior inserts of graphite and the exterior inserts and as there is a bearing surface of metal at the exterior extending from end to end of the bearing, and unbroken lines between the inserted sections of graphite, a bearing of great strength and durability is provided.

In Figs. 4 to 6 are shown floating bearings in which spiral grooves are provided on the exterior of the shell. Fig.4 illustrates a bearing having an unbroken interior bore while Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate an interior bore having spiral grooves and an exterior provided with spiral grooves for the lubricant.

' Fig. 4 illustrates the method of attaining 7 has cast in its exterior surface, grooves 8 full strength in the shell at the same time, providing for ample lubrication. The shell Ordinarily,

which extend nearly to the ends of the shell. Should an attempt be made to carry these grooves completely to the ends of the'shell, it is obvious that it would be materially weakened and no such near approach to the ends could be made as would insure proper strength of metal. The ends, of 'course, must be lubricated and therefore in the place of continuous grooves, the thread-like depressions are terminatedsome little'distance fromthe ends of the shell and separated depressions 9 are then formed which, in practice, effectthe sameresultas though the grooves werecontinued. These depressions 9 are, of course, filled withthe lubricant as are the grooves 8 and as the shell is rotated,

both the grooves and' the depressions give off a sufiicient film of lubricating material to amply lubricate the intervening metallic surfaces. In Figs. 5 and 6, the same arrangement is employed but in this instance, the application is shown in conjunction with a spheroidal bearing of the floating type. At the greatest diameter, the shell 10 has ample metal between its exterior and the interior bore 11 but at the ends as at 12, there is comparativelydittle metal between the exterior which serve as pockets for holding the lubricant. In this manner, the entire surface of the spheroidal bearing is amply lubricated and yet has ample strength. The interior bore has spiral grooves which retain the lubricating material.

The forms just above described differ materially from the form of Figs. 1 to 3 inasmuch as ample metal is provided in these latter forms (except at their extreme ends) to permit the formation of the grooves for receiving the graphite or other lubricant Furthermore, the greatest duty upon these hearings, occurs at their point of largest diameter. v I

It is to'be understood, of course, that in any of the forms referred to, the grooves are filled with a compound of graphite or similar lubricant which is very firmly pressed into them and then vulcanized .to

give it a hardness almost equal to that of the metal of the shell and it will be obvious that with the arrangements described, the entire surface of thefioating bearing, both as- 'to, its interior and exterior will be provided with a film of graphite which will insure easyrunning of the parts. It is to be understood, of course, that these hearings may be'used in conjunction with. a liquid lubricant or oil, although it has been found in practice that no oil is actually required. lit is. apparent that if a thin film of graphite compound is always present upon all. the

other lubricant will be metal surfaces, no necessary.

' Obviously, the bearings may be-formed in any desired manner but with the arrange- -ment described, a very thin type of floating bearing shell may be used and this may be cast as to the somewhat complicated interior grooves and readily milled as to the exterior. This gives a shell unbroken from end to end and imperforate and thus it may be made extremely thin and provided-with ample lubricating capacity. It is suiiiciently strong to resist torsion and other strains and will not become distorted to a degree suflicient to throw off the contained lubricant. Furthermore, any re-action upon the graphiteat one side of the shell will not be directly transmitted to the graphite at the opposite side of the shell asthere is a continuous shell of metal between the interior and exterior inserts. Where the exterior grooves arearranged longitudinally as in Figs. 1 and 3, a maximum amount of bearing metal for supporting the weights is secured even with very thin bearing shells. What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

- 1. A floating' bejaring comprising a metallic shell having interior grooves and grooves in the exterior of the shell, each set of grooves being completely independent of the other and ununited and terminating within the ends of the shell, and a graphite lubricant filling said grooves.

2. A bearing having a shell and a helical groove. extending intermediate the ends of the shell, and isolated pockets formed in Y continuation of the helices at the ends of the shell and a lubricant filling the grooves and pockets.

3. A bearing having interior grooves and exterior grooves formed in the outer surface LEIGH s. BACHE.

.Witnesses: I

- S. A. KING,

L. V. ROUSSEAU. 

